Formula 1 Lore Tuesday: The Lewis Hamilton – Nico Rosberg feud

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were two of racing’s best friends, but in their pursuit of greatness, that friendship developed into a bitter rivalry. One went on to become one of the greatest drivers in the history of Formula 1, while the other is currently a commentator. the Rosberg Hamilton rivalry is one of the fiercest in the sport’s history. Here’s what happened.

Welcome to Lore Tuesdays, a weekly series through the off-season, telling you stories about the greatest moments in Formula 1 history. Each week, we will retell one of the greatest F1 moments in history and why it is so ingrained in Formula 1 history. Strap in, here we go!

Childhood best friends

Hamilton and Rosberg met as children in the world of karting. Hamilton came from a poorer family, where his father worked three jobs to support his love of racing.

Rosberg, meanwhile, grew up in a different world. His father was Keke Rosberg, the 1982 Formula 1 World Champion, and the family lived in Monaco. Nico spoke multiple languages and came from a very different world from Hamilton.

Both described this time as a happy one, with the two being friends off the track. Hamilton said, “Nico and I raced together as kids. We shared hotel rooms at races, played video games together. His dad Keke was actually really supportive of me – he’d give me advice. We were genuinely friends.”

Pre-Formula 1 for Rosberg and Hamilton

From karting, the two diverged. Rosberg joined Formula BMW and won the Drivers’ Championship in 2002, his first full year in the competition. He then moved on to Formula 3, with Team Rosberg, founded by his father, and made the podium eight times in his first season. Rosberg would then move to GP2 before joining Williams in F1 and started driving for them in 2006.

Hamilton, meanwhile, joined Formula Renault before moving up to the Formula 3 Euro Series with McLaren. Williams reportedly was interested in signing him, but their engine supplier, BMW, refused to fund him. In 2006, Hamilton moved to GP2, where he won the championship in his first year. Interestingly, he beat Nelson Piquet Jr. that year, who we know from the infamous Crashgate Scandal.

Formula 1 debuts

Hamilton joined McLaren as their second driver in 2007, one year after Rosberg made his F1 debut. Rosberg was very good off the start, becoming the youngest ever racer to set a fastest lap in his first ever Formula 1 Race at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2007. He only finished with four points that year.

Hamilton came into F1 with a bang, becoming the youngest driver to lead the championship in the fourth round of his first season. However, several rough races by both him and the car cost him the championship.

He finished one point behind Kimi Raikkonen that season, and ended up level on points with his teammate, Fernando Alonso. McLaren and Alonso terminated their relationship that season, and Hamilton became the number one driver, signing a five-year deal.

The following season, Hamilton would end up winning his first World Drivers’ Championship in the Brazilian Grand Prix over Felipe Massa. We broke down the 2008 Championship final race that will live on in infamy here.

While he would not win another Championship with McLaren, he finished no worse than fifth in any of the next five seasons.

Rosberg struggles to make an impact

While Hamilton made a name for himself early in his career, the same cannot be said for Rosberg. His second season saw him make a major jump up in the standings, going from 17th to 9th, but he did not finish with a single podium, pole, or fastest lap. He did manage to earn 20 points, which was a step forward.

The next two years saw him reach a pinnacle of 7th in 2009 and find his way onto the podium twice in 2008. In late 2009, Rosberg officially made the move to Mercedes, as the team bought a majority share in Brawn GP and renamed the team in their own name. Rosberg joined Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion, in driving for the team.

This was a big year for Rosberg, and he opened the season with three third-place finishes. He also constantly outpaced Schumacher in the Mercedes, being better able to navigate the car’s steering issues.

2011 to 2013 were hard years for Mercedes, with technical issues plaguing the cars. Rosberg would win his first race in 2012, but finished ninth that season. He was consistently the better driver for the team, besting Schumacher every single season.

Hamilton joins Mercedes

After a rough 2012 season, in which Hamilton lost an estimated 110 points to retirements and poor team decisions, he shocked everyone and announced he would be taking his talents to Mercedes to replace Schumacher. Mercedes was still a midfield team at the time, but Hamilton reportedly felt that the project being built at Mercedes was worth joining, and of course, the opportunity to race with his childhood friend.

2013 was an interesting year for the team; they weren’t competitive as a team, but the battles between Hamilton and Rosberg were interesting. The team won three races, with Rosberg taking two of them, but Hamilton qualified ahead of Rosberg in 11 of the 19 races.

This sparked something in Rosberg. In Malaysia, with Rosberg leading and Hamilton in second, team orders were not to compete and allow Rosberg to continue in first. However, Hamilton was extremely aggressive, pushing Rosberg right to the finish line. The latter won the race, but this was the start of something.

Later in the season, Mercedes violated F1 rules by testing tyres with Pirelli privately, but Rosberg was selected to do most of the testing as Hamilton was on a sponsorship assignment. Hamilton felt this was unfair and gave his teammate an advantage.

At the end of the season, Hamilton sat fourth in the championship while Rosberg had two race wins and finished sixth. The relationship had begun to sour, with Rosberg unhappy with Hamilton’s success and Hamilton feeling that Rosberg was being given an advantage by the team.

2014: The year the friendship died

This was the year Mercedes dominated the grid. The power unit was one of the best in history, and the team dominated the grid entirely. It came to a point where virtually only Hamilton or Rosberg could win a race- this changed their friendship substantially.

And you could see the icing as the season went on. From the first race, where the two battled hard and Hamilton came out ahead, to the fifth race, where the same happened, Rosberg was noticeably more frosty towards his teammates.

The 2014 Monaco Grand Prix

Then came Monaco in round six. In Q3, Rosberg had claimed the fastest lap early in the final stint. Hamilton went out to challenge that on his fast lap, but as he was going, Rosberg locked up on turn five and went off the track. This caused the stewards to waive the yellow flag, and Hamilton had to abort his lap. This allowed Rosberg to keep his pole.

Following qualifying, Hamilton was furious. The incident looked fishy. It was an odd place for a lockup; the timing was too perfect, and the steering looked deliberate.

Mercedes held a secret meeting afterwards, and while nobody officially confirmed, allegedly Rosberg described the incident as an “error in judgment” and was vague in how he described his actions.

Because of the way the Monaco Grand Prix is set up, it’s nearly impossible to pass, and Rosberg won the race from pole. The cold war turned hot after this. Hamilton unfollowed Rosberg on social media, and in the interviews, Rosberg looked noticeably guilty and uncomfortable.

Things go from bad to worse for Rosberg

Hamilton was furious and took it out on the track. He would win the next three races, but there were no congratulations or smiles from his teammate. The two nearly crashed at Silverstone, Hamilton’s home race, but the British driver came out ahead. Hamilton then beat Rosberg in Germany, Rosberg’s home race, which was a big one for Rosberg.

The pattern continued over and over, with Rosberg finishing behind Hamilton in each race.

Spa 2014

Then we got to Spa. Rosberg started on pole, but Hamilton got past him on lap two. Going into turn five, Rosberg tried to take his place back around the outside and made contact with Hamilton’s front tyre. This caused a puncture and slowed Hamilton substantially. Because of how far he was from the pits and the immense length of the track, this caused him to slow substantially and damaged the floor of the car.

In the end, Hamilton finished third, and Rosberg finished second behind Daniel Riccardo. Mercedes held another meeting post-race, and reports out of that meeting were that Rosberg did not deliberately crash into Hamilton, but instead took a very aggressive line that required Hamilton to either give up the position or crash.

Mercedes fined Rosberg for that action and reportedly told both drivers to behave themselves, or they would institute team orders to determine race order. The team held a press conference after the incident, with Hamilton and Rosberg both looking extremely upset and Toto Wolff looking like a scolding parent. Both racers refused to look at each other.

The rest of the season went on with Hamilton largely winning and Rosberg largely finishing second. The final race of the season was close, with Hamilton needing to finish at least third and Rosberg needing to win, but Hamilton managed to pick up the win and take home his second Drivers’ Championship.

Hamilton described the year as the “toughest year mentally of [his] career”. While Rosberg may have started more races on pole, Hamilton outdueled him all year long and picked up more victories, and that’s what racing is all about.

The 2015 Formula 1 season

Mercedes continued to dominate in 2015, with Hamilton coming out of the gate flying. He won Australia, China, and Bahrain to open a lead in the WDC. Rosberg then won Spain and won Monaco, after a strategic blunder from Mercedes cost Hamilton the win. He publicly implied that the team deliberately let Rosberg win. Nobody could prove either way.

Hamilton continued to dominate the year, clinching his third WDC at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. 10 wins, 11 poles, and 381 points. But more importantly, Hamilton put a 59-point gap between himself and Rosberg. This broke the Monaco-based racer.

2016- Rosberg’s last year

2016 was the last year of Rosberg’s contract with Mercedes, and after 2015, he employed numerous specialists and experts to give him the inches he felt he needed to beat his rival. Now 30, he was running out of time to show he could be a World Champion too. This would go on to be the final year of the Rosberg Hamilton rivalry.

His entire world was built around beating Hamilton, with his wife saying, “Nico became a different person in 2016. He was obsessed. He barely slept. Every waking moment was about beating Lewis.”

And he started the year off on a high, winning the first four races of the season. Hamilton struggled to make an impact at all.

The Spanish Grand Prix

Then we got to Spain and round five. Hamiltons tarted off on pole with Rosberg starting in second. The two started the battle right from turn one, then around turn three, Rosberg pushed around the outside, and they went wheel-to-wheel, but then they hit. Both drivers went into the gravel and were out of the race. Double DNF for Mercedes.

While the racing community had mixed feelings about who was responsible, the stewards largely blamed Rosberg for the crash. Not only was he in the wrong engine mode, not giving himself enough power to compete, but he also turned into Hamilton in the moment of contact, causing the crash. While Hamilton could have left more room, this was largely on Rosberg.

Toto Wolff threatened to impose team orders and was furious after the crash. The press conference afterwards was insane. Hamilton called this a “pattern” of crashes by Rosberg, while the latter defended himself, saying that Hamilton pushed him onto the grass.

Rosberg then closed with the iconic line, “I’m not backing down anymore.” Game on.

Carnage ensued

Hamilton went on to win two of the next three races, with Rosberg taking home the win in Baku. Then in Austria, the two were again battling for first, and they made contact. Rosberg went off the track, but recovered. However, the stewards gave Rosberg a penalty for exceeding track limits, giving Hamilton the win.

Naturally, this started another round of fireworks between the two, with Hamilton saying Rosberg had enough space, and Rosberg arguing that Hamilton forced him off the track. The stewards saw it the way Hamilton did. After Austria, it was just a three-point gap.

Hamilton went on to win the next three races to widen the gap, but then Rosberg stormed back, taking the following three. Given Hamilton’s finish, Rosberg took the lead by eight points going into round 16 in Malaysia.

In that race, Hamilton held a comfortable lead, but on lap 41, his engine completely exploded. Smoke and flames engulfed his car. This wasn’t the first time he had engine issues, struggling with it in Monza and at Spa, two of the three races that Rosberg won. Naturally Rosberg had no engine issues all season.

Hamilton then implied that this wasn’t just bad luck, saying, “Something doesn’t feel right. My engines keep failing. It’s interesting, isn’t it?” Mercedes obviously denied any wrongdoing, calling it bad luck. The gap between the two was 23 points after Lewis’ DNF.

Hamilton won the majority of the final races, which left just a 12-point gap between the two going into the final race. Rosberg needed to finish at least third to winhis first WDC.

Hamilton started on pole, and Rosberg started second. Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel were third and fourth, respectively. The only chance Hamilton had was to hope that both could pass Rosberg, so he finished fourth, and Lewis won the WDC.

Over the course of the race, Lewis drove very slowly, bunching everyone up behind him to make it harder on Rosberg. The Mercedes team was irate, with Wolff getting on the radio to Hamilton to tell him to speed him and keep the team’s 1-2 finish alive. Hamilton said he was “managing [his] tyres”.

Despite this tactic, Rosberg held on to second and won his first and only WDC that year. This was massive for Rosberg, who spent the entire year trying to beat his former childhood friend-turned rival.

Rosberg drops a bomb

Just five days later, Rosberg announced that he was retiring from Formula 1. At 31 and having won the World Drivers’ Championship, this was shocking. However, he said, “I’ve achieved my dream. I’m a world champion.

But the cost was too high. The mental and emotional toll of fighting Lewis for three years broke something in me. I can’t do another year of that intensity. I don’t want to do another year of that intensity.”

This is the end of the Rosberg Hamilton rivalry.

Where are they now?

We all know where Hamilton is now, but Rosberg has never returned to driving. He has become a pundit and analyst, and spends time as a father of two girls. He has invested in numerous businesses over the years and runs an F1 YouTube channel.

The two are still not close. While they have definitely warmed up since 2015, the two have not gone back to being friends like they were when they were kids.

Will they ever be friends again? Unlikely. Hamilton said, “Do I think we’ll ever be friends again? I don’t know. Maybe someday. Right now, there’s too much history.”

Rosberg, meanwhile, was similar in his reaction, saying, “Lewis and I aren’t friends, but we’re not enemies either. We respect each other. Maybe someday we’ll be able to sit down and laugh about those years, but right now, there’s still too much emotion.”

This is what Formula 1 is, though. Relentless pursuit of greatness that challenges everything that drivers hold near and dear, including friendships.

This Rosberg Hamilton rivalry will go down as one of the most bitter rivalries in the sport’s history.